Where to stay in London. Best Hotels London. Top Things In London; Tower, Eye, Pancras, Parliament

Discover where to stay nearby the top things to do in London, England. Best hotels in 3 areas of London. Experience the iconic landmarks, quintessential British traditions and fantastic London history. We explore London Bridge & London Tower area, Westminster and Parliament and the best example of London victorian architecture St Pancras train station hotel (daily trains to Paris, Amsterdam and Brussels). All 3 hotels have indoor swimming pools and gyms. 4 + stars
(1) Leonardo Royal London City (formerly the Grange)
Stones throw to London Tower & Bridge and houses the London Wall
(2) London Marriott County Hall
Beside London Eye on the Thames with views of Big Ben & Parliament
(3) St Pancras Renaissance Hotel
Victorian masterpiece in the RR Station and near the British Museum
Harry Potter fans love this place (see below)
Day in Paris video link: • Eurostar Day Trip Lond...
In 1862, the Midland Railway company, who already ran a network of railways in the midlands, commissioned their own railway line into London. The main motivation behind the project was to be able to transport coal and other goods into the city.
Construction finished on the new railway line and station in 1865. A competition was subsequently launched to design a hotel for the station with a grand frontage onto Euston Road.
The Midland Grand Hotel
The most extravagant (and expensive) plan was put forward by the prolific gothic-revival architect George Gilbert Scott.
No Expense Spared
The inside is equally resplendent. Gold leaf is used throughout the hotel and the decoration is elaborate, from the wallpaper to the plasterwork.
Decline and Near Destruction
Despite, for a time, it being the first choice accommodation for wealthy visitors to the city, in the early 1900s the Midland Grand Hotel fell out of favour. Other fashionable, particularly West End, hotels such as the Savoy took precedence, boasting new-fangled ensuite bathrooms, something the Midland Grand did not have.
The Midland Grand shut as a hotel in 1935, becoming offices and accommodation for the railway. British Rail actually initially wanted to knock it down but thankfully a vigorous campaign led by Jane Hughes Fawcett, John Betjeman and the Victorian Society saved the building and secured it a Grade I listing in 1967, the highest level of heritage protection.
In the 1980s it was shut due to fire regulations and sat there for years unused and unloved.
A New Lease Of Life
In 2004 planning permission was given to Marriott to turn it back into a hotel.
The main public rooms of the old Midland Grand were restored, along with some of the bedrooms. The former driveway for taxis entering St. Pancras station, passing under the main tower of the building, was converted into the hotel's lobby. In order to cater for the more modern expectations of guests, a new bedroom wing was constructed on the western side of the Barlow train shed.
As redeveloped the hotel contains 244 bedrooms, two restaurants, two bars, a health and leisure centre, a ballroom, and 20 meeting and function rooms.
It reopened its doors in 2011
Media appearances (from Wikipedia)
The exterior and interior of the hotel were used as locations in the 1995 film Richard III starring Ian McKellen, serving as King Edward's Palace.
The 1988 Douglas Adams novel The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul uses the derelict Midland Grand as the real world alternative to the Norse Gods' Valhalla. He described it as a "huge, dark Gothic fantasy of a building which stands, empty and desolate… its roof line a vast assortment of wild turrets, gnarled spires and pinnacles which seemed to prod at and goad the night sky".
The video for the 1996 song Wannabe by the Spice Girls was filmed at the Midland Grand Hotel. The music video was filmed in the entrance and main staircase of the building. The song was to be filmed in Barcelona, Spain. However, permission was not given.[citation needed]
In Christopher Nolan's 2005 film Batman Begins, the Arkham Asylum stairwell was filmed in the hotel.
The staircase was also the setting for Mistlethwaite Manor in the 1993 film production of The Secret Garden.
In 2003, the television series Most Haunted Live broadcast a live event from the building, the theme being "Peril in St. Pancras".
The hotel and train station were chosen to act as King's Cross Station's exteriors for Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 2, on the filmmakers' reasoning that their Gothic architecture was considered far more impressive. Like the real King's Cross, the St. Pancras Renaissance Hotel also became popular with tourists doing Harry Potter tours.
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